Manchin: Gun efforts should focus on culture of ‘mass violence’

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) on Sunday said that stand-alone restrictions on gun control would not pass Congress unless lawmakers also addressed the broader culture of “mass violence.”

Manchin said that the tragic shooting in an elementary school in Connecticut last month had “changed the dialogue” and that lawmakers needed a “comprehensive approach” to gun violence, during an interview on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

“If you’re just going to say it’s all about guns, and we need gun changes and bans, then you’re wrong,” said the West Virginia senator.

Manchin said that he and fellow Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) would sponsor a bill to initiate a “commission on mass violence” and hoped Vice President Joe Biden, who is spearheading the administration’s task force on gun violence would include it in his recommendations to President Obama.

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